San José City College

Academics

Philosophy

Humanities and Social Sciences

"Apart from its utility in showing unsuspected possibilities, philosophy has a value - perhaps its chief value - through the greatness of the objects on which it contemplates, and the freedom from narrow and personal aims resulting from this contemplation "

Bertrand Russell, 1910

PHIL-010 - Introduction to Philosophy:

Metaphysics, Epistemology, and Ethics

This course introduces the basic philosophical disciplines: logic, epistemology, cosmology, metaphysics, ethics, natural theology, and aesthetics. It focuses on selected classical and modern philosophers, their theories on human nature, the nature of knowledge, free will and determinism, and basic ethics within a broadrange of readings from Plato to Chardin.

PHIL-011- Introduction to Philosophy:

Political Philosophy, Aesthetic Philosophy and Religion

This course surveys political theory from its origins to the modern era, the nature and value of the arts, and the philosophical nature and sources of religious experience, all within the ontext of ancient and modern thought. Selective readings range from Plato and Aristotle to Machiavelli, Locke, Tillich, and Croce.

PHIL-012- Introduction to Philosophy:

Existentialism: Past, Present, and Future

The focus of this course is on the various forms of existentialism as expressed in philosophy and literature, the spectrum of its meanings, and its relevance to the development of individual and collective human values. Selective readings range from Euripides and Kiekegaard to Camus and Heidegger.

PHIL-051 - Asian Philosophy

This is an introductory course in the philosophies of India, China, Japan, and Vietnam. Students will learn the fundamentals ranging from the Veda, Buddhism, the I-Ching, Confucianism, Kim Van Kieu, and Islamic thoughts.

Thinking Man

PHIL-060- Logic: Critical Reasoning

This is an introductory course in informal logic and critical reasoning Students are instructed in the practical application of inferential, inductive and deductive reasoning, problem analysis/resolution, the logic systems entailed by language, word-functions, definition, and common fallacies of relevance and ambiguity. There is a strong emphasis on written expression and the application of critical thinking skills in a series of composition assignments.

PHIL-065- Introduction to Ethics

This course explores some of the major ethical theories and problems of the past and present. Students learn the application of concepts of good and evil, right and wrong, to current ethical and social issues, and to the processes of formulating and making actual ethics-based decisions. Utilitarian and rule-based systems are studied and through critical reasoning are applied in analyses, discussions, and in written assignments. Emphasis is on the real, the practical, and the application in everyday ethical situations.

PHIL-070- Religion: The Live Hypothesis

This is an introductory philosophical survey of living religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, Native American and African) using comparative study that focuses on the meaning of religious experience, the forms its expression may take and what it may offer humanity.
Philosophy